JPH0352912B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a marine radar automatic switching device suitable for use in safe navigation of a marine vessel.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional marine radars include Ka-band radar,
There are various types of radars such as X-band radar and S-band radar, but they are all used alone, and when clutter is strong, the navigator may manually switch from X-band radar to S-band radar. I was doing a lot of things.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

By the way, the above-mentioned marine radar is the most important among navigational instruments, and is indispensable for collision prevention when navigating at night, navigating narrow channels, or navigating in ports. However, depending on the degree of marine weather conditions, sea vines and rain vines may be strong, making it difficult to recognize obstacles with medium- to short-range radar. Therefore, in such a case, it is necessary to appropriately switch the radar and, when the environmental conditions are restored, switch the radar back to its original state, but to do this, the switching work must be performed manually. Therefore, in order to promote labor-saving and unmanned operation, it is necessary to automate this switching work, but to do so, it is necessary to automatically supply reliable, high-quality video signals to collision prevention systems at all times. It must be able to safely navigate unmanned.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is possible to always synthesize and display a video with less clutter while making use of the distance distribution unique to each of the Ka-band, X-band, and S-band radars, and to achieve high quality. It is an object of the present invention to provide a radar automatic switching device for a ship that can greatly contribute to safe navigation by unmanned operation by giving a video signal to a collision prevention device.

[Means for solving problems]

The automatic radar switching device for ships according to the present invention includes an antenna, a transceiver that emits radio waves via the antenna, receives the reflected wave signal, and outputs radar video, and stores the radar video output from the transceiver. An S-band radar equipped with a buffer memory, an antenna, a transceiver that emits radio waves via the antenna, receives the reflected wave signal, and outputs radar video, and processes the radar video output from the transceiver. An X-band radar and a Ka-band radar, each comprising a strong clutter detector for detecting the presence or absence of strong clutter, and a buffer memory for storing radar video output from the transceiver;
a timing matching device that matches the entire radar video output from the buffer memory of each band radar; a coordinate converter that converts the radar video of each band matched by the timing matching device into one coordinate; The radar video of each band whose coordinates have been transformed by the coordinate converter is input, and the outputs of the strong clutter detectors of the X-band radar and Ka-band radar are input, respectively, and the strong clutter detector of the X-band radar detects strong clutter. The boundary between the receiving distances of the detected X-band radar video and S-band radar video is automatically shifted to the short range side, and when strong clutter is detected by the strong clutter detector of the Ka-band radar, the Ka-band radar video is and a distance selector that automatically shifts the boundary of the receiving distance of the X-band radar video to the short distance side, and the radar video of each band output from this distance selector is divided into one screen according to the receiving distance range. Consisting of a video synthesizer equipped with a display memory that synthesizes and stores it, and a radar indicator that displays a synthesized video according to the receiving distance range of radar videos of each band stored in the display memory of this video synthesizer. It is characterized by what it did.

[Effect]

According to the marine radar automatic switching device having such a configuration, when the strong clutter detector of the X-band radar detects strong clutter, the distance selector of the video synthesizer narrows the maximum distance range that the X-band radar can accept, and detects the clutter. The minimum distance range for the S-band radar, which is strong against
When the Ka-band radar's strong clutter detector detects strong clutter, the video synthesizer's distance selector narrows the Ka-band radar's maximum range of coverage, and the X-band radar's minimum range of coverage reduces the clutter. It becomes possible to reduce
Therefore, the composite video of the S-band, X-band, and Ka-band radar videos output from the distance selector is maintained with little clutter, and the display memory always displays high-quality video with a high S/C ratio. A signal can be provided to a radar indicator and output to a collision prevention device.

〔Example〕

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a marine radar automatic switching device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram of an automatic radar switching device for ships, and FIG. 2 is a diagram of its equipment configuration. In Figures 1 and 2, numeral 10 is an S-band radar that has good transmittance for rain and snow, and is suitable for long distances, but has poor resolution.
1. A transceiver 12 that emits radio waves via the antenna 11, receives the reflected signal, and outputs radar video; removes interference from radio waves from other vessels from the radar video output from this transceiver 12;
Video processor 1 that performs CFAR processing, integral processing, etc.
3 and a buffer memory 14 for storing the radar video processed by the video processor 13. Reference numeral 20 is a Ka-band radar which has poor transmittance through rain, snow, etc. and is suitable for short distances, but has good resolution. a transceiver 22 that receives the radar video and outputs radar video; a video processor 23 that performs interference removal from radio waves from other vessels, CFAR processing, integration processing, etc. on the radar video output from the transceiver 22; A buffer memory 24 for storing the radar video processed in step 23 and a buffer memory 24 for processing the radar video output from the transceiver 22 (autocorrelation detection, correlation threshold, intensity threshold) to detect the presence or absence of strong clutter. It consists of a clutter detector 25. Reference numeral 30 denotes an X-band radar having intermediate characteristics between the S-band radar 10 and the Ka-band radar 20. Like the Ka-band radar 20, this X-band radar 30 includes an antenna 31, a transceiver 32, a video processor 33, and a buffer memory 34. and a strong clutter detector 35. Further, 40 is a video composite machine, and this video composite machine 40 is a buffer memory 1 of each band radar 10, 20, 30.
a timing matcher 41 that matches the timing of the entire radar video output from 4, 24, and 34;
A coordinate converter 42 converts the radar video of each band matched by the timing matcher 41 so that different coordinates due to the distance of the radar installation position etc. are converted into one coordinate.
The radar video of each band coordinate-transformed is input, and the strong clutter detectors 35 and 25 of the
It is composed of a distance selector 43 into which the outputs of the range selector 43 are respectively input, and a display memory 44 which stores the radar video of each band output from the distance selector 43. Here, when strong clutter is detected by the strong clutter detector 35 of the X-band radar 30, the distance selector 43 selects the X-band radar video and S
The boundary of the reception distance of the band radar video is automatically shifted to the short distance side, and when strong clutter is detected by the strong clutter detector 25 of the Ka band radar 20, the reception of the Ka band radar video and the X band radar video is performed. It has a function to automatically shift the distance boundary to the short distance side, and the display memory 44 synthesizes the radar video of each band output from the distance selector 43 into one screen according to the receiving distance range. The composite video signal can be supplied to a collision prevention device (not shown). Furthermore, 50 is a radar indicator that displays a composite video according to the receiving distance range of the radar video of each band stored in the display memory 44 of the video composite device 40.

Next, the operation of the marine radar automatic switching device configured as described above will be described.

In the S-band radar 10, the Ka-band radar 20, and the X-band radar 30, each transceiver 1
When radio waves are emitted from antennas 11, 21, and 31 from antennas 2, 22, and 32, and the reflected wave signals are received, the received signals are processed into video and sent to video processors 13, 23, and 33. Output. These video processors 13, 23, and 33 perform interference removal due to radio waves from other ships, CFAR processing, integration processing, etc. on the video, and store the results in buffer memories 14, 24, and 34, respectively.
The video output from the buffer memories 14, 24, and 34 enters the video synthesizer 40, where the timing matcher 41 first aligns the overall timing, and then the coordinate converter 42 adjusts the timing according to the differences in the radar installation positions. After converting the different coordinates into one coordinate, the distance selector 43 selects the distance, that is, determines the distance range for each radar, and stores the result in the display memory 44 by combining them into one screen. When the composite video stored in the display memory 44 is read out, it is displayed on the radar indicator 50 and output to a collision prevention device (not shown). Here, in the Ka-band radar 20 and the X-band radar 30, the strong clutter detectors 25 and 3
5, if no strong clutter is detected, the video of each radar is stored in the display memory 44 by the distance selector 43 of the video synthesizer 40 as a composite video according to the distance field specific to that radar. The indicator 50 displays each band range as shown in the center of the figure. Further, when the strong clutter detector 25 of only the Ka band radar 20 detects strong clutter, the strong clutter detector 25 of only the Ka band radar 20 detects strong clutter.
5 to the distance selector 43 of the video synthesizer 40.
A band to X band switching signal is provided. Therefore, the distance selector 43 stores the composite video in the display memory 44 as a composite video in which the Ka-band reception distance boundary is made smaller and the X-band reception distance boundary is expanded. Each band range is displayed as shown on the right, and an overall composite screen with less clutter is automatically maintained. On the contrary, when the strong clutter detector 35 of only the X-band radar 30 detects strong clutter, the strong clutter detector 35 sends an X-band to S-band switching signal to the distance selector 43 of the video synthesizer 40. is given, so the distance selector 43 displays the display memory 4 as a composite video in which the X-band reception distance boundary is made smaller and the S-band reception distance boundary is expanded.
Therefore, although not shown in the drawings, the radar indicator 50 automatically maintains a composite screen of each band with less clutter as a whole. moreover
When the strong clutter detectors 25, 35 of both the Ka-band radar 20 and the X-band radar 30 detect strong clutter, both strong clutter detectors 25, 3
5 to the distance selector 43 of the video synthesizer 40.
Since switching signals from band to X band and from X band to S band are given, this distance selector 43
It is stored in the display memory 44 as a composite video in which the coverage distance boundaries of the Ka-band and X-band are made smaller and the coverage distance boundaries of the S-band are expanded. The band range is displayed, and an overall composite screen with less clutter is automatically maintained.

In this way, in this embodiment, the S-band radar and the Ka-band radar 2 each handle a specific distance field.
The video of each band using the 0 and It's possible to make high quality videos. Furthermore, even if strong clutter occurs due to weather and sea conditions, the strong clutter detectors 25 and 35 built into the Ka-band radar 20 and the X-band radar 30, respectively, automatically detect the strong clutter and record the video. A band switching signal is sent to the distance selector 43 of the synthesizer 40 to temporarily make the X-band radar 30 take over part or all of the coverage distance of the Ka-band radar 20, or to change the coverage distance of the X-band radar 30. Since the video of each radar is synthesized as a distance range in which a part of the range is temporarily assigned to the S-band radar 40, the synthesized video is automatically kept in a state with a high S/C ratio. can be maintained. Therefore, a high quality video signal can always be automatically supplied to a collision prevention device in a streamlined ship or an unmanned ship, greatly contributing to safe navigation.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and it goes without saying that it can be implemented with various modifications within the scope of the gist thereof.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, Ka band,
By taking advantage of the distance distribution unique to each X-band and S-band radar, we are able to always synthesize and display a video with minimal clutter, and also to provide a high-quality video signal to the collision prevention device, which greatly improves safe navigation through unmanned operation. It is possible to provide a radar automatic switching device for ships that can contribute to the present invention.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 each show an embodiment of a marine radar automatic switching device according to the present invention.
FIG. 1 is its block circuit diagram, and FIG. 2 is its equipment configuration diagram. 10...S band radar, 20...Ka band radar, 30...X band radar, 11, 21,
31... Antenna, 12, 22, 32... Transmitter/receiver, 13, 23, 33... Video processor, 14,
24, 34... Buffer memory, 40... Video synthesizer, 41... Timing matcher, 42... Coordinate converter, 43... Distance selector, 44... Display memory, 50... Radar indicator.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 An S equipped with an antenna, a transceiver that emits radio waves via the antenna, receives the reflected wave signal, and outputs radar video, and a buffer memory that stores the radar video output from the transceiver.
A band radar, an antenna, a transceiver that emits radio waves through the antenna, receives the reflected wave signal, and outputs radar video, and processes the radar video output from this transceiver to determine the presence or absence of strong clutter. A timing for matching the entire radar video output from the buffer memory of each band radar with an X-band radar and a Ka-band radar equipped with a strong clutter detector to detect and a buffer memory for storing radar video output from the transceiver. A matching device, a coordinate converter that converts the radar video of each band matched by this timing matching device into one coordinate, and the radar video of each band whose coordinates have been converted by this coordinate converter is input, and The boundary between the receiving distances of the X-band radar video and the S-band radar video where the outputs of the strong clutter detectors of the X-band radar and the Ka-band radar are respectively input and strong clutter is detected by the strong clutter detector of the X-band radar. When strong clutter is detected by the strong clutter detector of the Ka band radar, the Ka
A distance selector that automatically shifts the receiving distance boundary between band radar video and a video synthesizer equipped with a display memory for compositing and storing radar videos of each band stored in the display memory of the video synthesizer; A marine radar automatic switching device characterized by comprising: